Marcia,
Your plan is exactly what I am doing this year, and it works great.
I have a stoplight that I made myself. It is basically the same as your
idea, but I have A on the green, R on the Yellow, and T on the red. If
the whole class is too loud, they lose the A, Still too loud, they lose
the R, go to whisper, still too loud, they lose the T, silent art, if
they continue to talk during silent art, they put their heads down and
art stops. I've never had to go that far. In addition to that, I have
my orange warning slips. I keep some of them on my projector cart for
kids who keep blurting, rather than raising their hands during group
discussions/powerpoints/demonstrations. and that has helped
tremendously. I give those orange slips out very easily now to
wandering socializers who don't seem to want to work very hard, loud
kids, or kids who are misbehaving and breaking any of our rules. When I
give the slip i always ask them what they are getting it for, which rule
they broke. Kids are reacting really well with them. It puts all of
the responsibility back on them for the rest of the period. They write
their name on the slip, and they check off the reason they received it.
It stays on their desk until they walk out the door. If I don't pick it
up again for another offense, great, they throw it away because they
were well behaved the rest of the period. If I do pick it up again,
they move to the chill chair and work there, and their behavior grade
drops a letter for two weeks. If they don't get another slip for two
weeks, their grade comes back up. This system, used consistently, has
really helped my 5th grade ROWDY boys! I do not have any more trouble
from kids who get a slip, and the overall behavior has improved a lot.
. They keep the slips on their desks until after cleanup. IF i have
not picked it up for another reason, it goes in the trash on their way
out the door. This is a very effective, direct, and clear system.